Christy Hemme
| birth_place = Temecula, California | death_date = | death_place = | resides = Los Angeles, California | billed = Los Angeles, California | trainer = Arn Anderson Dean Malenko Finlay Inoki Dojo Ricky Steamboat Scott D'Amore | debut = November 15, 2004 | retired = December 16, 2009 (as a wrestler) }} Christina Lee Hemme (October 28, 1980) is an American model and former professional wrestler. Hemme is best known for her appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment, her pictorial in the April 2005 issue of Playboy, and also known for her time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as a ring announcer and former wrestler. Modeling career Hemme attended Mount San Jacinto College, where she majored in dance. After graduating, she relocated to Los Angeles, California in order to pursue a career in modeling. Hemme initially joined a burlesque dance team known as "The Purrfect Angelz", who performed at Easyrider tours and Harley motorcycle rallies. She went on appear in magazines such as Maxim, Playboy, Rolling Stone and Stuff. In addition, she appeared in the music video of the Trace Adkins song "Chrome", and in videos for bands Blink-182 and Sonic. In past years, her image has also been found on Bench Warmer trading cards as Christy "Sunny" Hemme. Her modelling career led to her joining the cast of Comedy Central's The Man Show as a member of the "Juggy Dance Squad" in 2003. Hemme remained with the series for a year, during which she hosted "The Commies", a comedy-themed award ceremony produced by Comedy Central, on December 7, 2003. Hemme took part in the 2004 Lingerie Bowl, and competed as a quarterback for the Chicago Bliss Lingerie Football League team in a 2006 Lingerie Bowl playoff game on January 28, 2006. Wrestling career World Wrestling Entertainment (2004-2005) In the summer of 2004, Hemme participated in the WWE Diva Search, a competition held by World Wrestling Entertainment in order to recruit new Divas. In the course of the competition, Hemme and the five other finalists faced seven existing WWE Divas in a game of dodgeball at SummerSlam 2004 on August 15, 2004, eliminating all eight Divas with the loss of just one finalist, Joy Giovanni. Hemme was announced as the winner of the competition on September 20, 2004, with her prize being a one-year contract with WWE with remuneration of $250,000. Hemme began her WWE career as a member of the RAW roster, using the song "Walk Idiot Walk" by The Hives as her entrance music. She quickly began a feud with Carmella DeCesare, the runner-up of the Diva Search. The feud culminated in a "lingerie pillow fight" at Taboo Tuesday 2004 on October 19, 2004, with Hemme defeating her opponent by knock-out. Hemme was undefeated in the Lingerie Pillow Fight during her WWE tenure. Following her feud with DeCesare, Hemme began a rivalry with WWE Women's Champion Trish Stratus, with Stratus ostensibly scornful of Hemme's appearance in the April 2005 issue of Playboy. Hemme eventually challenged Stratus to a match at WrestleMania 21, with Stratus's nemesis Lita training her in the weeks preceding the event. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, 2005, Stratus defeated Hemme to retain her title. In the months after WrestleMania, Hemme began another feud with Victoria, who claimed to be jealous of the opportunities afforded to Hemme. The feud culminated in a bout at Vengeance 2005 on June 26, 2005, which was won by Victoria. With her feud with Victoria over, Hemme briefly aligned herself with Eugene before she and Stacy Keibler were traded to SmackDown! in exchange for Candice Michelle and Torrie Wilson on August 25, 2005, with their first match being a WWE.com exclusive lingerie pillow fight with one another. Hemme went on to feud with Melina, the leader of the MNM faction, in the process joining forces with the Legion of Doom. At No Mercy 2005 on October 9, 2005, Hemme and the Legion of Doom defeated MNM in a six-person intergender tag team match, with Hemme executing the signature finishing maneuver of the Legion of Doom, the "Doomsday Device", on Melina. Her feud with Melina continued into November, when Melina defeated Hemme in a televised singles bout. On November 30, 2005, Hemme debuted in Ohio Valley Wrestling, a WWE developmental territory, aligning herself with Matt Cappotelli in opposition to Aaron Stevens, Beth Phoenix and Shelly Martinez. While in OVW, she used the song "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard as her entrance music. On December 5, 2005, Hemme announced on her website that she would be training full-time in OVW. She was released by WWE one day later, however, with the company citing budget cuts as the reason for her dismissal. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Debut; Hosting role (2006-2007) Hemme debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on April 23, 2006 at Lockdown 2006, giving an envelope to commentator Mike Tenay containing the announcement that Larry Zbyszko had been placed on probation and Raven (whom Zbyszko had fired earlier that year in kayfabe) had been reinstated. In addition to her hosting role on TNA iMPACT!, she is also the co-host of the Internet show TNA Global iMPACT! with Jeremy Borash. At TNA Hardcore War, Hemme refereed a match between Traci and Gail Kim. In July 2006, she was featured on Spike TV's Women of Action special. In September 2006, Hemme recorded a song entitled "Society Box", which will be featured on TNA's November 21, 2006 music release, 3rd Degree Burns. She has also been travelling to Windsor, Ontario to train under TNA agent Scott D'Amore in between TNA TV tapings. Heel Turn and Various Storylines (2007-2008) On January 14, 2007 at Final Resolution, Christy came out and interrupted the Voodoo Kin Mafia (VKM) and cut a promo about the involvement of women in wrestling. She said that she wanted to wrestle too—and the mostly male crowd in the TNA arena jeered her. Kip James called her a slut, which garnered him a slap from Hemme, while B.G. James attempted to play peacemaker. In the process, Hemme turned heel for the first time in her wrestling career. In the following weeks, Kip and Hemme got into a few arguments over his lack of respect for her and women as a whole. Hemme made her TNA in-ring debut at Against All Odds where she wrestled and defeated "The Big Fat Oily Guy" in a Tuxedo match, but after his match Kip James stripped her. On the March 8 edition of Impact, Hemme asked Jim Cornette for a match pitting VKM against her new, previously undisclosed, team, at Destination X. Cornette consented and booked the match. On the pay-per-view, the evil Hemme introduced The Heartbreakers. Despite Hemme's attempts to give Kip a low blow, VKM defeated her team, who she later browbeat at ringside. Hemme later announced that she had found another team to face the VKM. At the preshow prior to the Lockdown pay-per-view, the mystery team was revealed to be Serotonin (Havok and Kaz), but VKM defeated them as well. She then brought in Basham and Damaja as her new permanent tag team in her battle with VKM. They beat Kip in a handicap match at Sacrifice as B.G. had been attacked by them earlier in the night. At Slammiversary, VKM beat Basham and Damaja, but VKM's associate Lance Hoyt turned on them and kissed Hemme. Basham and Damaja were then released from the company, and Hoyt formed a partnership with Jimmy Rave, named The Rock 'n Rave Infection, with Hemme as their manager. In the winter of 2007, Hemme, Rave, and Hoyt entered into a feud with The Latin American Xchange (LAX) faction after being attacked several times by a mysterious assailant. The assailant was revealed to be Salinas (Shelly Martinez) at Final Resolution following LAX's victory over the Infection. Shortly after Final Resolution, The Rock 'n Rave Infection began a new gimmick, acting as though they were a rock band with Hemme portraying the lead singer. On the March 13 episode of Impact, Hemme, Rave and Hoyt won a six-person tag team match against LAX after Hemme hit Salinas with a guitar. At No Surrender, Hemme, Hoyt, and Rave lost in an intergender six person tag team match against the Prince Justice Brotherhood (Shark Boy, Curry Man, and Super Eric). Face turn; In-ring competition (2008-2009) On the October 16, 2008 edition of Impact!, Rock and Rave were attacked by Kurt Angle and were sent to the hospital. As Hemme attempted to leave the building and go to the hospital, The Beautiful People and Cute Kip confronted and insulted her, which led to the trio attacking her and performing the brown paper bag treatment on her. Hemme completed her face turn by defeating Velvet Sky on the October 23, 2008 edition of Impact!. She feuded with them, which resulted in two consecutive tag team matches with ODB and Sojourner Bolt respectively. After showcasing improved wrestling skills, Hemme was then placed into a more active in-ring role, being pushed to challenge Awesome Kong for the TNA Knockouts Championship at Final Resolution after defeating Raisha Saeed on the November 27 edition of TNA Impact!. Hemme then teamed with A.J. Styles in a mixed tag team match against Awesome Kong and Scott Steiner, where Hemme pinned Kong. At Final Resolution, it appeared Hemme was about to win the title, but was attacked by Saeed and Rhaka Khan, thus winning on a disqualification. Hemme was then granted a re-match at Genesis. A week later, Hemme teamed with ODB against Khan and Saeed in a winning effort. On January 2009, Hemme sustained a neck injury while training in the ring with Styles for her match and would be unable to compete at Genesis against Awesome Kong. Her injury required surgery and she was out of action for about seven months. Hemme returned to TNA programming on the August 13, 2009 episode of Impact! defeating Sojournor Bolt via pinfall. The next week on Impact she formed an alliance with Tara, when they helped save Madison Rayne from the Beautiful People. Later that night Hemme competed in a four-way match against Sarita, Awesome Kong and Traci Brooks. Brooks won the match after she pinned Hemme. On the September 3 edition of Impact, Hemme competed in the first round of the tournament for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship alongside her tag partner Tara against Sojourner Bolt and Hamada, which Hemme and Tara won. On September 17, however, they lost in the semi finals to the Beautiful People due to interference from Madison Rayne. On the October 1 edition of Impact!, Christy Hemme defeated the evil Traci Brooks in a "Battle of the Playboy Models", but was attacked by Traci after the match. On the October 29 edition of Impact!, Hemme teamed with Hamada and ODB in a six knockout tag team match, where they were defeated by Madison Rayne, Velvet Sky and Lacey Von Erich, after Von Erich pinned Hemme. This would turn out to be her final TNA match. Backstage interviewer and ring announcer (2009-present) On the December 10 edition of Impact! Hemme debuted in her new role as a backstage interviewer. On December 16, 2009, Hemme announced her retirement from in-ring competition after her last match in a gauntlet. On April 7, 2010, Dixie Carter announced on her Twitter account that Hemme had signed a new multi-year deal with the company. On the December 2 edition on Impact! Hemme was involved in a small backstage catfight with Cookie during a brawl with Cookie's cohort X Division Champion Robbie E and Jay Lethal. On the December 16 edition of Impact! Hemme came out during an X Division Championship match between Robbie E and Lethal and handcuffed herself to Cookie, thus preventing her from interfering in the match and subsequently costing Robbie the X Division Championship. After the match Hemme and Lethal celebrated, which led to a kiss between the two. Since the April 28, 2011 edition of Impact!, Hemme served in her new role as a ring announcer. On the September 20, 2012 episode of Impact Open Fight Night, Hemme was called out by the villainous Tara, only to be attacked by her after she refused to say Tara was her favorite Knockout. Miss Tessmacher then made the save for Hemme. In November 2013, Hemme was put in a storyline with Samuel Shaw, after Hemme interviewed Shaw in his home. Shaw later became an obsessed fan of Hemme, and started asking her on dates, including one in his house where it was shown how Shaw had a room full of posters and pictures and a mannequin of Hemme. Hemme was confronted by Shaw on the February 27 episode of Impact Wrestling after an incident the previous week, in which she was injured when Shaw attacked Mr. Anderson. Hemme was used as a shield by Shaw to fend off Mr. Anderson after Anderson attempted to save Hemme from Shaw after she slapped him as well as exact revenge for the previous week's attack. On April 7, 2014, Hemme was announced as member of the TNA creative team. On April 24, 2015, episode of Impact Wrestling, Hemme was attacked by the debuting Jade and Marti Bell of The Dollhouse, after Jade lost a match to Laura Dennis. On April 1, 2016, Hemme announced her depature from TNA. Outside of TNA In November 2006, Hemme participated in the Queens of Chaos shows in Paris, France. She wrestled two matches, losing to former WCW talent and TNA Knockout April Hunter. She then defeated British wrestler Minx to earn the right to referee the championship match, which was eventually won by Hunter. Hemme is scheduled to make her acting debut in the film Fallen Angels, portraying the deadly sin "Lust". She will also be appearing in another horror film tenatively titled The Dead Season, playing a zombie. In wrestling *'Entrance themes' :*"Society Box" by Christy Hemme :*"Walk Idiot Walk" by The Hives (WWE) Championships and accomplishments *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' **PWI ranked her #42 in the 2008 PWI Top 50 Females *'World Wrestling Entertainment' :*2004 Diva Search winner Personal life Hemme has a brother, David, and a sister, Deena, who is also a model. Her father, Robert, owns an insurance agency in her hometown of Temecula. Her natural hair color is blonde. She dyed it red in tribute to her mother Susan, who died in 2002. Hemme is an avid motorcyclist. She owns a Harley Davidson Dyna Glide Low Rider. 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